A communication system is formed, at a minimum, of a sending station and a receiving station between which information is communicated. The sending and receiving stations are interconnected by way of a communication channel upon which the information to be communicated by the sending station is communicated to be detected at the receiving station.
Advancements in communication technologies, have permitted the development, and implementation, of new types of communication systems. New types of radio communication systems, for instance, have been made possible as a result of the advancements in communication technologies.
A radio communication system is a type of communication system in which the communication channel, defined between the sending and receiving stations, is formed upon a radio link. Because a radio link is utilized to form the communication channel, a wireline connection is not required to be positioned between the sending and receiving stations upon which to form a communication channel extending therebetween. Because the conventional need to utilize a wireline connection is obviated, a radio communication system inherently provides increased communication mobility in contrast to a conventional, wireline communication system. Additionally, infrastructure costs associated with a radio communication system are generally less than the corresponding infrastructure costs associated with a wireline communication system as the need to install fixed connections between the sending and receiving stations are obviated.
A cellular communication system is a type of radio communication system and is exemplary of a radio communication system which has been made possible due to advancements in communication technologies. Telephonic communication of both voice and nonvoice data is provided through the use of a cellular communication system. Portable radio transceivers, referred to as mobile stations, are used by subscribers to a cellular communication system. A mobile station is generally utilized in a manner analogous to the manner by which a conventional telephonic device is utilized.
Various types of cellular communication systems have been implemented utilizing various communication schemes. One communication scheme pursuant to which a cellular communication system can be constructed is a CDMA (code-division, multiple-access) communication scheme. When utilizing a CDMA communication scheme, channel differentiation is provided by unique codes by which information to be communicated by a sending station to a receiving station is encoded. The information is encoded prior to its communication to the receiving station. And, the receiving station decodes the encoded information received thereat.
A plurality of separate communications are effectuated over a common bandwidth with different communication signals encoded by different codes. Because of the sharing of the common bandwidth, the power levels in which the separate communication signals are transmitted must be controlled so that the communication signals are not of power levels so great as to interfere with communication of other, concurrently-transmitted communication signals. Accordingly, cellular communication systems constructed to be operable pursuant to a CDMA communication scheme typically provides a manner by which to control the power levels at which signals are communicated therein. The cellular, as well as other, communication systems operable pursuant to other communication schemes also provide manners by which to control power levels at which communication signals generated during operation of such communication systems are transmitted. The power levels of the transmitted signals must not be so great as to interfere with other concurrently-generated communicated signals. But, at the same time, the signals must also be of power levels great enough to permit a receiving station to detect, and to adequately recover the informational content of, the communication signal.
Closed-loop power control schemes, for instance, are utilized to effectuate power control by which to control the power levels at which communication signals are transmitted. Generally, in a closed-loop power control scheme, the receiving station detects signals communicated thereto by a sending station. Measurements are made at the receiving station of indicia associated with the signal detected thereat. Responsive to the measurement of the indicia, a determination is made at the receiving station as to whether subsequently-generated communicated signals to be communicated to the receiving station by the sending station should be increased, or decreased in power. Indications of such determinations are returned to sending station, and the power levels of subsequently-generated communication signals are altered, as appropriate.
In CDMA, cellular communication system, forward link power control is effectuated by measuring, at the mobile station, the signal indicia associated with forward-link traffic channel signals. Measurements are made, e.g., of frame error rates of frames of the forward-link traffic channel signals. Responsive to the measurements, a decision is made at the mobile station either to request an increase or to request a decrease in the power levels of the forward link traffic channel signals.
Additional advancements in communication technologies have permitted the introduction of burst data services. Packet-formatted, such as SMS (stored message service) messaging, GUTS (generalized UDP transport service) messaging, and WAP (wireless applications protocol) forum communications are exemplary of burst data services.
A burst data service effectuates communication by sending data in brief bursts. Generally, data burst services are wireless data services which do not require a dedicated air interface link upon which to communicate a data burst. Communication of voice data, in contrast, typically is effectuated upon dedicated air interface links. Due to the inherent capacity limitations of a radio communication system, addition of data burst services to an existing cellular communication system permits new communication services to be offered pursuant to the cellular communication system without necessitating a significant communication capacity allocation increase to the communication system.
However, due to the bursty nature of a data burst service, channel conditions during the brief time periods during which bursts of the data are communicated must not exhibit levels of fading to prevent the communication of the data bursts between sending and receiving stations. While fading exhibited on a channel upon which non-bursts data communications are effectuated also deleteriously affect the communication quality of such other communications, fading exhibited on the channel during a communication of a burst of data is more likely to result in a communication failure.
If a manner could be provided by which better to ensure that data bursts communicated pursuant to effectuation of a data burst service are communicated when channel conditions of a communication channel upon which the burst data is communicated do not exhibit excessive levels of fading, improved communication quality of the burst data would be possible.
It is in light of the this background information related to communication of burst data upon a communication channel susceptible to fading that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.